Clean Energy Fund Could Be Going Under the Knife -- Again

The state again is looking at shaving money from a fund aimed at developing new and more efficient power plants, a priority the Christie administration once espoused in its Energy Master Plan.

In the latest revision to its fiscal year 2014 budget for clean energy programs, the staff of state Board of Public Utilities is contemplating reducing funding for so-called combined heat power (CHP) and fuel-cell projects from $95.6 million to $33.2 million, according to a new budget unveiled last week by a consultant to the agency.

CHP, in which electricity and heat are produced simultaneously, has been touted as a cheaper and more efficient way of generating power locally. Advocates say that CHP plants could have averted the shutdown of critical government facilities in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, including wastewater treatment facilities, some of which dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the state’s waterways.

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